The night Johnny Ace died in the City Auditorium

Dry your eyes, no tears, no sorrow.
Cling to me with all your might,
And never let me go.

— “Never Let Me Go” by Johnny Ace

More than 2,000 people had gathered at the old City Auditorium on Dec. 25, 1954, for the dance. It being Christmas night and all, it was probably a pretty festive occasion.

On the bill that evening was one John Marshall Alexander Jr., better known as R&B crooner Johnny Ace.

The Memphis-based pianist cut his teeth in a band with B.B. King in the early days. As King’s star rose and provided new opportunities, Johnny took over the band and soon amassed a string of R&B hits in the early 1950s.

Johnny was a familiar sight in Houston’s R&B scene back then. In 1952, Don Robey, founder of Houston-based Peacock Records, acquired Memphis’ Duke Records, which had signed Johnny.

In Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues, Roger Wood noted: “The synthesis achieved via this commercially triggered dialectic of performers from the Delta and the Lone Star state resulted in some of the most potent blues, and especially rhythm and blues, of the fifties and sixties — including the first major R&B ‘crossover’ star, Johnny Ace.”

According to the Houston Post, Johnny had finished his set with Yes, Baby and retired to the City Auditorium dressing room. Some drinking ensued and, according to newspaper accounts, Johnny started playing a game of Russian roulette with a .22 caliber revolver. (Some say Johnny used a different caliber weapon that night.)

Johnny demanded she put the bullet back in the gun and give it back. Thornton relented but told him to put the gun away.

Nothing will happen, Johnny said. To prove it, he cocked the gun, put it to the temple of 22-year-old Olivia Gibbs, and pulled the trigger, the Chronicle reported.

Click.

He spun the cylinder again, put it to his temple and pulled the trigger.

The ensuing blast instantly killed the 25-year-old. Even though the local papers blamed his death on a game of Russian roulette, other accounts — on Wikipedia for example — say Johnny believed the weapon wasn’t loaded.

Nonetheless, though his life was cut short that night, Johnny’s music legacy continued through posthumous releases. That music would inspire a class of musicians who would shape rock ‘n’ roll in the 1960s and 1970s.

One was Paul Simon, who referenced Johnny’s story in the 1983 recording, The Late Great Johnny Ace.

More recently, Dave Alvin kept the story alive in 2011’s Johnny Ace is Dead.

If you’re having trouble placing any of his music, one posthumous hit, Pledging My Love, can be heard in the film Christine. You can hear it in this playlist here.

The incident garnered a brief mention on the front page of the next day’s Houston Post. The Chronicle had a longer story inside its editions. Both accounts can be found via this link. The Houston Press didn’t appear to mention it in its final editions in the days after the shooting.